HASHTAG WHALE
HEY GUYS IT'S FRIDAY AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS...#FF! #FF for ALL! That's hash-tag Friday Five, obviously. Why what did you think it stood for? Twitter has now been around so long that it has its own slang that people no longer save just for the social networking site. It's acceptable (or believed to be acceptable – in some circles) to say 'hash-tag' OUT LOUD when discussing awkward subjects. Chats have become a lot more staccato now people restrict themselves to 140 characters and subjects are restricted to which member of One Direction is trending (Harry, it's always Harry).
Enough time has gone by for most people convinced to open a Twitter account a few years ago not only to work out what micro-blogging is all about but to fall into certain Twitter types. Are you a lurker? An Compulsive Tweeter or self-congratulatory Rter? As long as you don't fall into the David Cameron Twitter trap we're sure you're fine. Here are our Twitter Types...
Enough time has gone by for most people convinced to open a Twitter account a few years ago not only to work out what micro-blogging is all about but to fall into certain Twitter types. Are you a lurker? An Compulsive Tweeter or self-congratulatory Rter? As long as you don't fall into the David Cameron Twitter trap we're sure you're fine. Here are our Twitter Types...
1.Twitter ghosts OK, there is a balance to be struck with twitter, and I don’t always get it right. I’m not famous, and I don’t have anything hugely witty to say, so I probably do tweet far too much about my daily life. Although I have my own rules on what I will and won’t say about certain things I’m sure I constantly lose followers by telling them what I’ve had for dinner or swearing about public transport. That’s fine. What’s slightly odd is when I meet someone I know, who I haven’t seen in months, and start telling a story about something amusing that has happened to me since I last saw them – only for them to cut me off with, “I know, I saw your twitter feed”. These are people who have their own accounts but never, ever tweet, not even from a protected account. They just read. And wait. And ask you about it later. Get in or get out guys, you’re freaking me out! (and there is always the potential that if you never tweet I’ll forget you’re following me and say something mean about you. Only kidding. Sort of) Squeamish Louise
2. Twitter PRs For work I end up following a number of public figures on Twitter, some of whom have web teams to do their tweeting for them. Which could work, if the web teams ever made an effort to inject any form of personality into the tweets. Of course, we all know how wrong it can go when an F1 driver is given free rein on Twitter... But I'd much rather see drivers making gaffes, both personal and professional, than endless 'I have uploaded 15 photos of my weekend to my FB page' week in, week out. The flipside of no personality from the drivers can be an excess of personality from the fans - there are a number of F1 super fans who have made names for themselves in the paddock - bad ones - through their incessant tweeting of simple questions best answered by Google (what time does the race start on Sunday?) and endless moans that their questions are going ignored. These complaints tend to be followed up by requests for VIP passes to races, which are then followed up by complaints of 'X used to be my favourite team, but they're so mean on Twitter I'm going to start supporting Y'. Which is a great way to ensure that neither team adds your name to the very short list of VIP paddock guests... F1 Kate
3. Live Tweet Spoilers I love Twitter. I do, I love it. You can flirt with strangers, argue with strangers. Facebook has to be carefully negotiated so your nan doesn't think you're a deviant (that's a lie, I'm equally as incorrigible on Facebook. My nan already knows I'm a dick), but in the Twittersphere, it's fine to conduct yourself with all the grace of a Jack Russell. I don't mind the pedants. Ignoring the cliques is easy. I can even tolerate the hundreds of cat profiles. The only thing that really gets on my nerves is that there is no established etiquette for tweeting about TV. X Factor live tweeting? Go ahead, it only adds to the fun. The BBC Question Time hash-tag is more relevant than the actual programme. But ruining the end of Downton? Consider yourself blacklisted. Becky Shepherd
4. #FF Retweeters While Twitter has a whole host of annoying Twitter users (yes, I'm sure it was an awesome sandwich but unless you made a second one for me I just do not care) my least favourite is the #FF retweeters (to clarify that stands for Follow Friday, not the far superior SB Friday Five, which I totally recommend you retweet as much as possible). Why do people do this? Why? The only people who see that someone has recommended that you are worth following when you do this are people who already follow you! Seriously you may as well just tweet that you are needy and need constant validation from strangers. at least you'd be honest then. Gareth
5. Twitter Couples Oh Twitter, I love you. I love being able to tweet what song is in my head, reading links to things I might not have found by myself and laughing at pithy observations made by total strangers. Being a feminist site our twitter account gets the odd bombardment of links to anti-feminist blogs or messages to let us know we are part of a feminist blight. Thanks to the block button and a tendency not to follow anti-feminist accounts this is not much of an issue. My twitter feed being taken up by a Twitter couple discussing what they're going to have for tea? Endless @ messages about vegetables and wine that I can see because I have the misfortune to be good friends with the pair? That's annoying. Although it's nice to see they have such a healthy diet and are eating well. Squeamish Kate
2. Twitter PRs For work I end up following a number of public figures on Twitter, some of whom have web teams to do their tweeting for them. Which could work, if the web teams ever made an effort to inject any form of personality into the tweets. Of course, we all know how wrong it can go when an F1 driver is given free rein on Twitter... But I'd much rather see drivers making gaffes, both personal and professional, than endless 'I have uploaded 15 photos of my weekend to my FB page' week in, week out. The flipside of no personality from the drivers can be an excess of personality from the fans - there are a number of F1 super fans who have made names for themselves in the paddock - bad ones - through their incessant tweeting of simple questions best answered by Google (what time does the race start on Sunday?) and endless moans that their questions are going ignored. These complaints tend to be followed up by requests for VIP passes to races, which are then followed up by complaints of 'X used to be my favourite team, but they're so mean on Twitter I'm going to start supporting Y'. Which is a great way to ensure that neither team adds your name to the very short list of VIP paddock guests... F1 Kate
3. Live Tweet Spoilers I love Twitter. I do, I love it. You can flirt with strangers, argue with strangers. Facebook has to be carefully negotiated so your nan doesn't think you're a deviant (that's a lie, I'm equally as incorrigible on Facebook. My nan already knows I'm a dick), but in the Twittersphere, it's fine to conduct yourself with all the grace of a Jack Russell. I don't mind the pedants. Ignoring the cliques is easy. I can even tolerate the hundreds of cat profiles. The only thing that really gets on my nerves is that there is no established etiquette for tweeting about TV. X Factor live tweeting? Go ahead, it only adds to the fun. The BBC Question Time hash-tag is more relevant than the actual programme. But ruining the end of Downton? Consider yourself blacklisted. Becky Shepherd
4. #FF Retweeters While Twitter has a whole host of annoying Twitter users (yes, I'm sure it was an awesome sandwich but unless you made a second one for me I just do not care) my least favourite is the #FF retweeters (to clarify that stands for Follow Friday, not the far superior SB Friday Five, which I totally recommend you retweet as much as possible). Why do people do this? Why? The only people who see that someone has recommended that you are worth following when you do this are people who already follow you! Seriously you may as well just tweet that you are needy and need constant validation from strangers. at least you'd be honest then. Gareth
5. Twitter Couples Oh Twitter, I love you. I love being able to tweet what song is in my head, reading links to things I might not have found by myself and laughing at pithy observations made by total strangers. Being a feminist site our twitter account gets the odd bombardment of links to anti-feminist blogs or messages to let us know we are part of a feminist blight. Thanks to the block button and a tendency not to follow anti-feminist accounts this is not much of an issue. My twitter feed being taken up by a Twitter couple discussing what they're going to have for tea? Endless @ messages about vegetables and wine that I can see because I have the misfortune to be good friends with the pair? That's annoying. Although it's nice to see they have such a healthy diet and are eating well. Squeamish Kate
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